LARGE SUM WANTED

Grey River Argus, 24 April 1931, Page 5

LARGE SUM WANTED

I TO BALANCE BUDGET n Prime Minister’s Decision y TO DELAY ACTION. (Special to “Arens.”) WELLINGTON. April 23. 1 ! The Primo Minister made the fol a flowing Statement in the Hous? of Re t ipresentative s this afternoon:— I When introducing the second Finlance Bill, I-announced to this House and to the country generally, that the prospective deficit for Hie current-fin-ancial year, on th|e basis of last year’s 11 ' legislation ami scale of operations would, on the present estimates, am n oi::nt to approximately £5,500.000. This amount represented an increase of I £1.000,000 over the' amount .announced a iirt my review of the' financial situaa'tion issued at the beginning of Febru I ary. The people are, naturally, perturbed at this increase in the already--1 large shortage te be made good before ' the budget, fort the year can be balanc<d., and aTe doubtless;,anxious as to . the nature of th|e further burdens that they will be called upon to carry Many people who are not in touch with financial affairs have evidently found i it difficult to' undercta.nd the midden ’'increase of one million pounds in the estimated budget shortage, ,s° nl . c apparently have wrongly concluded tlujt the Government hits been with- ‘ Inkling, part of lhe f acts - ttnd s ivin ß the information to the country in in’st alments- Any such conclusion is quite ‘incorrect, foi’«the, Government has 'at 'i'll to the full 'facts MfdtW'ihe pebble, -ntell ■ ftuow'ing.,fTiaL-.t-hif.ip th. p first, essentia! ; step towards meeting tho situation. Tht 1 reason for increase An tlie es- ■ .inato* (Je-fieU M S ' h< ' ‘ <l>MMte 'Ute eeonomic nnd financial position whieh'-lrtls taken place during th|e last few months. Tho . first estimate, prtija’Td in January t last, was based ofi the Returns for the fust nine months oT last financial year, and the outlook, str far as it could be ■ seen at that timffi During the last - rjnarter-of'dhe. yean, however, the rate '■ of decline in several itpms-of revenue, notably, eustonis, stamp revenue an<,l railway revenue, was sharply accentuated. Under the eircntnstance.s, with the outlook olouded a 8 to-.tbe. Condi•fions that are likely to prevail durfing ” the'year, both' in 'this eb'untry and ■ abroad, it will be obvious to all -that forecasting the position of the public finances is a Very'difficult matter indeed. The shortage on the revised esi timates. in round figures, is made up as follows: , REVENUE DECREASES. , Customs 2- 000 ‘ 000 Stamp revenue 400.000 Land and income tax •• 600,000 Railways interest .. -- 1,000.000 Other items uOO.OOO £4,500,000 EXPENDITURE INCREASES. £ Unemployment subsidies .. 600.000 Debt charges 200,000 Other items, pensions, etc. 200.000 Total £1.000.000 Grand t0ta1£5,500.000 These figures do not allow for the loss of revenue that will accrue as a result of the Hawke's'Bay earthquake, which item c.annot be estimated at present, or for any additional funds that may h ive to be provided- from revenue for the unemployment problem. The steps already taken to meet the situation I detailed when introducing the Second Finance Bill. These proposals may be summarised as follows:—Reductions in salaries and wage's £1,390,000; economies apart from salaries and wages, £700,000; use of reparation moneys, £330.000; additional pastel '.revenue £900,000; total, £3,320,000. On the present estimates, this leaves somewhere about £2,250,000 still to be provided before a balaneecTbudget is obtainable. Some additional tasation is inevitable, Government realises that, under the' present economic conditions, it is imperative that the amount to be obtained in this way must be as small as possible, and, after careful consideration of the position, I do not propose to take any steps in that direction until the normal session, which, However, will pr'obably be called a little earlier than usual. In the meantime I will have 1 the opportunity of making a more thorough examination of the position than has been possible in the sh|o>rt time at my disposal, 'and under the stress of this emergency session of Parliament. Additional data, will be available and the trend of events should be clearer than at present. In addition, by that time the effect of the' edouomies already made will be more easily gauged, and there will he more information as to what further economies c.an be effected. In thSs connection I may] say that the Economy Committee have not yet com- ' pleted their work, and though' provision is being made to effect a saving of £230,000 in education, it-is hoped that the special Committee of Investigation which is to be set! up shortly will be able to make further' reductions in a large amount of approximately- £4,500,000 per annum at present spent o n education. As indicated in my statement of the position issued early in February, another matter remaining for review is the present arrangements! coitOerning highwayp finance, lhe relief to the consolidated fund, through transferring the charge for subsidies to local 1 authorities and other items to taxa- , tion earmarked for highways, which ' under last, year’s legislation is operative to 31st August, next. Should eerItainly be continued. When that legis—|la.tion was passed an undertaking was given that the whole q-uestiori of high- | >’fiha.nye would be. investigated |by a Parliamentary Committee, and I T propose to arrange for this to be .done in the ordinary session, s o that | finality, may be reached as to what bearing this question will have on the 1 I budget. I To sum up the position, it it clear

that a large sum has yOt to be found before the budget can bo' balanced, but thio Government proposes, in the’ meantime., to make a, furthter careful' heview of the estimates of the shortage, and of the benefit to be obtained from the economies already effected, and, at the'Taime time, to continue its efforts to obtain fiir ther saving s and economies With the " object of reducing any necessary further demands on the taxpayer to tWe lowest possible dimensions.